First impressions

[continuity]

I'm not sure a tutorial fits with a survival game, a big part of the gameplay is learning how to survive, which ultimately means learning the mechanics, and the premise is that you're literally dumped in the wilderness unprepared.  That said, fundamental mechanics that aren't intuitive need to be elucidated somehow.  Getting some snow and boiling it up isn't rocket science, anyone can do it, so it needs to be that simple and obvious in the game, which it isn't at the moment.

A lot of the great and forerunner survival games literally tell you nothing, even if the mechanics are bizarre, but then you usually don't die from hunger/cold/thirst in the first day or two like you can in the long dark. In the long dark you're literally on a survival clock as soon as you hit the ground, you're never more at risk than right at the start of the game, which is a brutal way to introduce the player to the game (which is cool, but it creates problems).  

[Vinceofpyrenees]

"* My personal goal is to reach a point where I can sustain myself indefinitely. I don't personally care about 100 or 1000 days, I want to beat the game (at this difficulty) by learning how to survive and then become more efficient at it. That brings me to my biggest fear: I'm beginning to realize that it's not possible because there are some necessary but finite resources, like matches, whetstones and scrap metal.  This brings me to an open question: What's the vision / goal for the game and the sandbox mode in particular? What is the desired typical experience for a player? "

 

* I know it's unlikely but I'd love to play this game co-op with a friend or two. "

 

 

GREAT NOTES

 

 

 

[pav]

10 hours ago, continuity said:

Perhaps if more voice acting is possible, you could get voice ques early on, like "I should start a fire to melt some snow", and maybe when you go into the fire menu for the first time it could draw your attention to the water tab somehow.

This would be perfect. Have the survivor say it at X minute intervals when thirsty until the player actually melts some snow for the first time. Also make the tab and the button flash (or just highlighted) until used for the first time.

[Dirmagnos]

12 hours ago, continuity said:

I'm not sure a tutorial fits with a survival game, a big part of the gameplay is learning how to survive, which ultimately means learning the mechanics, and the premise is that you're literally dumped in the wilderness unprepared.  That said, fundamental mechanics that aren't intuitive need to be elucidated somehow.  Getting some snow and boiling it up isn't rocket science, anyone can do it, so it needs to be that simple and obvious in the game, which it isn't at the moment.

A lot of the great and forerunner survival games literally tell you nothing, even if the mechanics are bizarre, but then you usually don't die from hunger/cold/thirst in the first day or two like you can in the long dark. In the long dark you're literally on a survival clock as soon as you hit the ground, you're never more at risk than right at the start of the game, which is a brutal way to introduce the player to the game (which is cool, but it creates problems).  

Proper tutorial is a must for any decent game, especially if it uses its own unique approach to gameplay. Otherwise its just poor design.

And a lot of great survival games have tutorial, that only makes them better. I have Forest sitting on my hard drive, but since it has literally no intro, after few attempts i have no intention to try it any further and as result i dont recommend it to any1. If not for the fact that i was on a serious survival binge when tLD crossed my path, id probably would drop this game after about a dozen deaths, since i had literally no idea wtf is going on.

There is a difference between holding hand and having proper into into the game that explains basics of gameplay. This way player can get playing right away, instead of needing to jump thru completely unnecessary, and quite frankly extremely annoying hops, that do not add anything positive to the game and makes devs look sloppy.

[Ruruwawa]

5 hours ago, Vinceofpyrenees said:

I'm beginning to realize that it's not possible because there are some necessary but finite resources

It's possible: snare rabbits, harvest em with your bare hands, start fires with sticks and a magnifier.  Whether that's fun is another question.  

[Dirmagnos]

2 hours ago, Ruruwawa said:

It's possible: snare rabbits, harvest em with your bare hands, start fires with sticks and a magnifier.  Whether that's fun is another question.  

Weather is rarely clear, making magnified rarely usable. Also, snares require reclaimed wood.

[continuity]

2 hours ago, Dirmagnos said:

Weather is rarely clear, making magnified rarely usable. Also, snares require reclaimed wood.

But they dont use up reclaimed wood, a harvested ruined snare gives you back the wood. So its renewable.

[cekivi]

11 hours ago, Vinceofpyrenees said:

"* My personal goal is to reach a point where I can sustain myself indefinitely. I don't personally care about 100 or 1000 days, I want to beat the game (at this difficulty) by learning how to survive and then become more efficient at it. That brings me to my biggest fear: I'm beginning to realize that it's not possible because there are some necessary but finite resources, like matches, whetstones and scrap metal.  This brings me to an open question: What's the vision / goal for the game and the sandbox mode in particular? What is the desired typical experience for a player? "

 

* I know it's unlikely but I'd love to play this game co-op with a friend or two. "

 

 

GREAT NOTES

 

 

 

I wouldn't worry about it. You'll probably want to start a new game long before you reach 1000 days. Plus there's already an active forum of someone describing exactly how to survive 1000 days in the game. It's doable - just tedious